Dry underpainting
Snow Shapes, 12 x 12, Pastelbord
I began this painting on a 12 x 12 gray Pastelbord. I started out with the basic shapes in cool colors and decided to spray with a workable fixative. This gave more tooth to the board and kept the colors from mixing. (Note that I changed the shape at bottom right from the original.) For this painting, I wanted to avoid green completely and used a mix of violets, earth tones, and warm pinks. I added rust to the tree at left to indicate oak leaves still hanging on. This picture was really fun! I love the abstract quality of it and the ability to use a pleasing color palette. The board had lines in it, however, that I strugged to get rid of–an altogether too common problem with this surface. But I love what I can do with it.
Beautiful painting! Pastelbord so far is my favorite surface, however, I seem to find lines in some boards also. Recently I tried UArt 400 and it had a definite pattern to it but I liked it for a looser style. Your blog is a great learning tool and inspiring. Thank you!
Thanks Margaret. Pastelbord, UART, and Wallis are the surfaces I find myself using most often these days. That changes every now and then, but I think these are good. I do like Pastelmat as well for direct applications of pastel. I have to say that knowing that others are reading the blog gives me inspiration to paint and post! So thanks to you and all the others out there!!!
Yes, I have a difficult time with the lines on Pastelboard, too. I can always rely on finding them below where the paper label has been as well in other unexpected places. Do you know why this happens? I am about to contact the manufacturer about this problem. It’s the only thing I don’t like about it, but I am ready to use other surfaces more often now to avoid this frustration.
Interesting observation about the paper label. I’m assuming that the surface has enough softness to it to make it susceptible to scratches. But the lines are perfectly straight. When I’m at the pastel convention in June, I’ll ask the Ampersand people about this. Did two small ones today and found problems when I laid in the charcoal, but the pastel covered it up nicely.
Thanks; it will be interesting to hear what response you get from Ampersand. As I mentioned, I have a particular problem with lines left around the perimeter of the label.
The painting I just finished had an “L” shaped line about 1 1/2 inches in each direction. One side might have lined up with the label but not the other. However, I’ll continue to use Pastelbord as it is my favorite. Jean, that will be great to hear what you learn at the convention. I wonder if it could be the way boards are stacked in stores.
When I looked at the label earlier, I looked at the wrong size board. On the size board I had painted on, the label may coincided with the “L” shaped mark. My husband thinks if the labels were on the outside of the shrink wrap instead of inside, the board might not get damaged. The shrink wrap is very tight.